michael biehn Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I know I'm not completely in the minority with this, but I have to admit first off that I loved Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I really thought Jonathan Mostow did a great job delivering the action -- obviously not close to as good as James Cameron would have done, but better than many others could have. When it was revealed that a fourth Terminator was in the works, I hoped Mostow would be rehired for the gig. But I guess he's either doing something else (Swiss Family Robinson perhaps?) or for some reason he's not welcome back. According to CHUD.com, his replacement on the franchise may be McG, who I find to be one of the most annoying guys working in Hollywood these days. Really, though, I just hate on the guy because of his stupid name. I guiltily kinda enjoyed his two Charlie's Angels movies. Apparently, McG is currently in talks to take the helm of the sequel, for a pre-strike production start, but it isn't for certain that he'll get the job.

I'm sure many of you will probably be upset if McG officially signs on, even if you too just criticize him for his name. It could be the nail on the coffin for a lot of fans already nervous about the continuation of the storyline without any definite sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes or anyone else who has previously starred in the series. From what we've so far heard, it seems part 4 will focus on the post-apocalyptic period involving the war between the machines and John Connor's army. Everything else, regarding an Arnie cameo, or whatever, I'm still considering to be hearsay. Anyway, all I care about now is that at least Terminator 4 has been scripted by T3's Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, a duo I'm sure are well-enough-versed in the Terminator universe to make this next installment interesting and worth seeing.

We always hear about big actors and actresses jumping behind the camera to whet their other cinematic appetites, but how often does it happen with a highly-recognizable television guest-stinter, movie actress, and singer who is one year away from 70? The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Connie Stevens is currently directing and producing a film called Saving Grace, which she also wrote; the story is influenced by a personal experience Stevens had years ago in Boonville, Mo., during severe floods. This is her first fictional feature, although ten years ago, she did write and direct a documentary about women in Vietnam called A Healing. And, to make things sweeter -- she's got a pretty solid cast.

Penelope Ann Miller (Blonde Ambition) and Michael Biehn (The Terminator) play a couple named Bea and Landy Bretthorse, who live in a Missouri town during the 1950s. Their lives are "thrown into chaos when Landy's sister Grace (Tatum O'Neal) is released from the local asylum and comes to live with the family." Joel Gretsch (The Emperor's Club) will play Grace's ex-husband, who was married to her for one whopping day, and Piper Laurie (Hounddog) is the administrator who runs the asylum. Apparently, the floods play a pivotal role in the story, but I imagine the insanity is where the fiction comes in. The film is currently on location in Missouri.

One of the most highly anticipated movies on the horizon is James Cameron's Avatar, slated for release in 2009. The film marks Cameron's return to a genre he pretty much defined in the 80's and early 90's -- science fiction. Avatar has a budget of $200 million, it will be projected in 3-D, and will contain sure-to-be-mind-blowing special effects designed by Cameron and Peter Jackson's effects company -- Weta. Not much is known about the film at this point, but we do know that it stars Miss Aliens herself, Sigourney Weaver, and Australian actor Sam Worthington. Worthington's not well known here yet, but he played the title role in the 2006 version of Macbeth. Cameron favorite Michael Biehn is rumored to be attached as well, which would be awesome. There's a lot of secrecy surrounding the project, but Weaver talked it up a bit to Hit while on a break from the film.

"It's a fantastic movie. So ambitious. So romantic and sweeping. I can't wait to get back," says Weaver, who will play a botanist (hopefully an ass-kicking botanist) and mentor to Worthington's character. Weaver describes Worthington as "a terrific actor, he really is. And a lovely guy. I think he's going to do a wonderful job. His humor and charm and just genuineness as a person are very evident as soon as you start working with him." Any chance we can get some juicy details, Miss Weaver? "I'm not allowed to give too much away, but we have parallel adventures. There's a younger person's story and a smaller, older person's story all happening at the same time. All my scenes are with [Worthington]. It's really a lovely relationship." Parallel older/younger stories, eh? Sounds a bit Titanic-y. Speaking of Sigourney, can I just beg for a moratorium on these DirecTV ads that brutally assault my childhood memories? I don't need to hear Doc Brown and Ellen Ripley begging me to switch cable companies. It really stings.

You could be forgiven for reading today's casting news and thinking it was 1987. Two of the eighties' most reliable manly men, Tom Berenger and Michael Biehn, are teaming up for the crime thriller Stiletto. The film will be directed by actor/writer/producer/director Nick Vallelonga, who you might remember as "Prison Inmate Sitting Behind Henry" in Goodfellas. No? "Courtroom guard arresting Sean Connery" in Family Business? I'll move on. Stiletto stars Stana Katic from TV's Heroes, as "an assassin whose seemingly random killings puzzle her lover, her clients and the detective following her rising body count." Berenger will play her boyfriend, "whose rise in organized crime is offset by his love for her and his Mafia co-hort," played by Biehn. I assume it's a platonic love with Biehn -- any Sopranos fan knows mobsters aren't too understanding of alternative lifestyles.

Actor Paul Sloan wrote the script -- his first -- and will also play the detective trailing Katic. Dominique Swain (remember her from that Jeremy Irons version of Lolita? Yowza!), Kelly Hu (Again...yowza!) Diane Venora (loved her as Pacino's wife in Heat), Amanda Brooks, William Forsythe, and model human Tom Sizemore round out the cast. I've been saying for years that a Berenger comeback is long overdue. Nominated for an Oscar for his stellar work in Platoon, perfect in Major League, he still does tons of films, but I wonder where he went off Hollywood's "Big Time Star" radar and into the realm of B-movies. Maybe Sliver had something to do with it. Same goes for Michael Biehn, who made something of a triumphant return as Sheriff Hague in Grindhouse. Maybe if Eli Roth's proposed expansion of Thanksgiving actually takes place, Biehn will have another plum role -- he was great in the trailer. Either way, the guy's always got work as long as James Cameron is making films.

As I continue to slog through our three -- count em' three -- hours of audio tapes from the Grindhouse junket, I'll be passing along news as I find it. During a rather uneventful roundtable with James Cameron mainstay Michael Biehn, who has a small role in the film, Biehn was asked what his next project was, and he said: "I'm doing a movie called Kids in America, with Topher Grace. Topher is actually executive producing. It's got Anna Faris and this kid Danny Fogler." And who does he play? "A cop. No. Yes! A cop. You get one guess, right?" I take that to mean he's playing a cop.

Apparently, for Cinematical's purposes, Biehn was sort of like the Michigan J. Frog of press junket interviews, because once he got into the other roundtables, he started talking up a storm about Avatar and how Jim Cameron is thinking of putting him in it and is also planning to not use cameras -- is he going to shoot the whole thing with his mind? Even though he gave us the short end of the news stick, here's hoping Biehn's next Cameron role lives up to Aliens or The Terminator, which are two of my favorite films. His next non-Cameron films, apart from Kids in America, include Psych: 9, a horror-thriller in which he will play ... you guessed it, a cop. He also has a role in a movie called That's Amore, which, at a glance, appears to be a low-budget attempt at remaking the Ernest Borgnine classic Marty, which doesn't sound like a good idea.

Once again, when it comes to James Cameron, it cannot just be about making a movie it's about pioneering technology. Firstlook.net spoke with Michael Biehn during the L.A. junket for Grindhouse and he spoke about Cameron's Avatar and his possible involvement in the project. Biehn told Firstlook, "I've read the script, it's like Lawrence of Arabia in space. That's what you're looking at." Biehn's casting would make the film a reunion of sorts since Ryan gave us the news back in February that Sigourney Weaver had signed for the film. But Biehn has still not confirmed whether there will be role for him in the film.

Biehn also hinted that some of the technology behind the project would blow audiences away, saying, "Jim basically was talking to me about the technology of shooting this stuff and he said to me, 'Well, we don't really use a camera, Michael. We're not talking about film, we're not talking about HD... We don't use a camera.' -- but, unfortunately there was not much more info on what that really entails. Cameron is known for his technological advancements in The Abyss and Titanic, I for one am curious to see what he has planned this time. Cinematical was also at the Grindhouse junket, just in a different room -- our coverage is coming, as soon as we can type it all up.

[Thanks to Alex at Firstshowing.net]

Could I be any more excited about James Cameron's Avatar? Typically I'm too cynical to have high expectations about any film in the works, but as I mentioned last week, this isn't just any film. Now, thanks to some rumors being discussed on AICN, my anticipation has risen even higher. It seems that Cameron regular Michael Biehn may have a role in the movie, and there's also a good chance that Sigourney Weaver is attached, as well.

At least Weaver can be confirmed as being linked to either Avatar or Cameron's other in-the-works project Battle Angel. She appeared on the Canal+ talk show Le Grand Journal yesterday to promote Snow Cake, but also slipped in the news that the Alien films were done (or at least her involvement with them) and that she is reuniting with Cameron for a new sci-fi picture. I don't understand French very well, but I watched the show and could make out the gist of Weaver's dialogue. Unfortunately, she didn't name the movie, and so I'll just have to hope she meant Avatar.

So it seems that Erik isn't the only one who thinks that Cary Elwes is kind of creepy. Elwes, who will probably be forever cursed with people shouting "As You Wish!" at him in the streets, has made career choices that were a far cry from the soft and fuzzy Wesley. It probably started with Kiss the Girls and was cemented by him sawing his own foot off in the original Saw. Upcoming roles for Elwes include a pedophile in Georgia Rule with tabloid staple Lindsay Lohan and an unnamed part in Dean Paras' action film Sakura: Blue Eyed Samurai.

Variety announced that Elwes has signed on for the psychological thriller Psych 9 for International Production Co. (co-producers of Hostel) and Green Card Pictures. The film also stars Michael Biehn, Sara Foster, and Gabriel Mann. Directed by Andrew Shortell, the film revolves around a young woman who takes a night job in the record office of a recently closed psychiatric hospital. Of course, she begins to experience strange events that might be connected to a series of gruesome murders.

Psych 9 is currently wrapping up in Prague, but a release date hasn't been finalized. Until then we'll have to settle for Elwes' work in what appears to be the painfully unfunny Pucked for the National Lampoon franchise; now, that looks like a scary movie.


[via Dark Horizons]

So, it turns out that reports of Grind House's demise were greatly exaggerated. Either that, or Robert Rodriguez and Dimension Films are in complete denial, because they've just officially announced the cast (much of which has already been revealed by glorious internet rumors) for Planet Terror, Rodriguez's segment of the film -- guess he didn't quit, huh? According to Variety, in addition to Rose McGowan and Michael Biehn (both of whom we already knew about), the movie will star Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, and that great thespian Fergie, from Black Eyed Peas (who knew a roll in an epic bomb would lead to more work?).

Just to review, Rodriguez's film is scary and involves zombies. And that's pretty much all we know -- but hey, who doesn't like zombies? If all goes well and no more directors "quit" or anything, Dimension plans to release Grind House next April, during the long Easter Weekend.

Odds and ends for a lazy Thursday:

•  The latest word on the street about the celluloid rumor mill that is Grind House (or is it just Grind now? It's so hard to keep track of this damn movie.) is that John Connor's dad Michael Biehn has joined the cast, as has the witchy Rose McGowan. Whether either is actually in the film is, as usual, another story entirely.

• Just in case you didn't know, Natalie Portman went to college. Harvard, actually - or hadn't you heard? In case you were wondering, going to college is great because you, like, make friends there. And they're, like, "always doing different, interesting things," and you can "remember how to be a person by being around them."  Not only did Natalie drop that bit of brilliance in an interview recently, but she also asserted than any actor who works for pay is "no different to a prostitute" - she only takes roles based on "artistic merit." Man alive. I'm not sure what's most disturbing about this whole thing: how pretentious it makes Portman sound, or the implication that she did the Star Wars prequels for artistic reasons.

• According to news reports, 10 additional minutes of Johnny Depp's work in Platoon have been recovered and added to the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition (due out in May). While it's unclear whether Depp's footage actually appears in a longer cut of the movie or as an extra, you Depp maniacs are finally going to get to see what he was actually doing - pre-Jump Street, even! - before Oliver Stone cut him almost entirely out of the movie.